The papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace, unoccupied since 2013, is finally ready to receive Leo XIV. According to Il Tempo, the restoration works—complex and prolonged—have been completed, and the Pope will move there in January, restoring the papal residence to its traditional function after Francis’s exceptional stay in Santa Marta.
From the “poor” 60 m² apartment to the complex of over 300 m²
The Italian newspaper recalls that Jorge Mario Bergoglio never occupied the papal apartment, preferring to live in the Casa Santa Marta, a building renovated by John Paul II in the 1990s to house cardinals during conclaves. For years, the official narrative presented this choice as a gesture of austerity. However, recently revealed financial documents showed that Francis gradually occupied the entire second floor of the building, creating an extensive complex of over 300 m² with a private chapel, several rooms, kitchen, and dining room.
The maintenance cost amounted to about 200,000 euros monthly, including additional staff, security, and facility conservation, while the Apostolic Palace remained unused.
A scene of abandonment upon opening the seals of the papal apartment
After the election of Leo XIV, the new pontiff found an apartment in very deteriorated conditions. According to Il Tempo, the kitchen renovated during Benedict XVI’s time had been completely dismantled; roof leaks had damaged the electrical systems; and the “soffittoni”—the small apartments intended for papal secretaries—were covered in mold and uninhabitable due to twelve years without maintenance.
Leo XIV, who since his election has been residing provisionally in his former apartment in the Palace of the Holy Office, ordered an immediate comprehensive restoration. The works, however, have been extended due to the Pope’s intense diplomatic activity, as he receives heads of state, ambassadors, and Curia officials in the Private Library every morning.
The lights of the Apostolic Palace will shine again
If no unforeseen events arise, at the beginning of January the Romans will once again see the third floor of the Apostolic Palace illuminated, an image absent since the end of Benedict XVI’s pontificate. With Leo XIV’s move, the papal apartment will recover its historical function after more than a decade of exceptional circumstances.